American Oil Crisis » Segway

Honda’s New Electric Car Includes a Robotic Unicycle

Jerry James Stone — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 14:29:55 +0000

At the upcoming Tokyo Motor Show, Honda will be unveiling a new electric car concept called the EV-N that comes with a segway-esque mobility unicycle device called the UX-3 — so you never have to walk again…ever!

Honda will showcase the model at its green-themed display called the HELLO! Zone which is devoted to electric cars.

The EV-N, which kinda looks like a Japanimation version of a Mini Cooper, shouldn’t be shrugged off as just some copycat car. Aside from the oddly-cool, and strangely intriguing, robotic unicycle, the EV-N also has swappable seat fabrics, a solar roof and some color-adjustable “communications system.”

Hybrid Electric Scooter Runs On Anything That Burns

Jerry James Stone — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 15:08:36 +0000

Segway inventor Dean Kamen is developing a hybrid electric scooter that can run on almost anything that burns.

According to the patent, the bike has a small two-piston Stirling engine right under the seat. Though with an engine of that size, it really isn’t going to provide much juice - not much more than 5bhp.

A Stirling engine is based on tech which predates internal combustion engines by almost 100 years. It’s kinda like a steam engine in the sense that it uses external combustion. They use pistons for the crankshaft, but unlike the alternatives they have no valves for no gas ever enters or leaves the cylinders.